NAZRY BAHRAWI
SENIOR LECTURER
Arts, Humanities
Biography
Dr. Nazry Bahrawi specialises in the study of Muslim texts, thoughts and traditions of Indian Ocean cultures between Southeast Asia and the Middle East. His research is informed by theoretical frameworks from the disciplines of world literature, literary and critical theory, translation studies and comparative religion (Islam and Christianity).
He is an associate editor of Critical Muslim (Hurst & Co.), a UK-based quarterly of ideas and issues which presents Muslim perspectives on the great debates of our times. An enthusiast of literary translation, Dr. Nazry has translated two Singapore works from Malay to English — Mohamed Latiff Mohamed’s collection of short stories Lost Nostalgia (Ethos: 2017) and Nadiputra’s play Lorong Buang Kok (Cokelat: 2012).
Outside the academia, he has published op-ed commentaries on Southeast Asian culture and society in international media outlets such as Al Jazeera, The Guardian, South China Morning Post and Today. His broadcast media appearances as a cultural critic include current affairs programmes aired on Al Jazeera, Channel NewsAsia, TRT World and Suria.
Key Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- “Mecca of Myths: Melaka in Two Hikayats”. Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings. Ed. Shirley Chew. Special Issue: Postcolonial City – Southeast Asia. University of Leeds and Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, Dec 2018
- “Mohsin Hamid’s War on Error: The Reluctant Fundamentalist as a Post-Truth Novel”. CounterText. Ed. Norbert Bugeja. Special Issue: Afterwor(l)ds. Edinburgh University Press, Aug 2018
- “A Thousand and One Rewrites: Translating Modernity in the Arabian Nights“. Journal of World Literature. Eds. David Damrosch and Susan Basnett. Special Issue: Translation Studies Meets World Literature. Brill, Sep 2016
- “Incest Performed: The Neocolonial Perversion of Translation in Malaysia”. Translation and Global Asia: Relocating Cultural Production Network. Eds. Uganda Sze-pui Kwan and Lawrence Wang-chi Wong. The Chinese University Press, Dec 2014
- “Hope of a Hopeless World: Eco-teleology in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood”. Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism. Ed. Geoff Berry. Special Issue: Utopias and the Environment. Taylor and Francis Journals, Dec 2013
- “Fictionalising the Utopian Impulse as Postsecular Islam: An East-West Odyssey”, Literature and Theology. Oxford Journals, Sep 2011
Peer-Reviewed Edited Volume
- Assistant Editor. Reading the Abrahamic Faiths: Rethinking Religion and Literature. Eds. Emma Mason and Nazry Bahrawi. London: Bloomsbury, Dec 2014
Selected Book Chapters
- “Utopia”. The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies. Eds.: Sangeeta Ray and Henry Schwarz. Wiley-Blackwell: Malden MA, Jan 2016
- “Multiculturalism”. The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies. Eds.: Sangeeta Ray and Henry Schwarz. Wiley-Blackwell: Malden MA, Jan 2016
- “Not My Bible’s Keeper: Saramago’s Cain Translates Postsecular Dissent”, Reading the Abrahamic Faiths: Rethinking Religion and Literature. Eds.: Emma Mason and Nazry Bahrawi. London: Bloomsbury, Dec 2014
Selected Essays
- (In Bahasa) “Dari Dai Nippon Teikoku ke Dai Nippon Kawaii”, Sakura Mekar di Bumi Berdarah: Koleksi Cerpen dan Sajak 75 Tahun Penjajahan Jepun di Singapura, Angkatan Sasterawan ’50: Singapura, 2018
- “A Tradition of Island Hoping”, The Birthday Book (2017): What Should We Never Forget?, The Birthday Collective: Singapore, 2017
- “Racialism in the Archipelago”, Critical Muslim (Issue 14): Power. Hurst Publishers: London, Apr 2015
- “The Devil’s Interpreter: Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd’s Humanistic Hermeneutics”, Critical Muslim (Issue 12): Dangerous Freethinkers. Hurst Publishers: London, Oct 2014
- “Textual Desires: Islam and Literature in Southeast Asia”, Critical Muslim (Issue 7): Muslim Archipelago. Hurst Publishers: London, Jul 2013
- “The Andalusi Secular: Enlightenment Ideas in Al-Andalus”, Critical Muslim (Issue 6): Reclaiming Andalusia. Hurst Publishers: London, Apr 2013
- “Hassan al-Banna, The Pragmatist”, Middle East Insights, Middle East Institute-NUS: Singapore, May 2012
- “Moderate Islam in Southeast Asia and Egypt”, East Asia Forum. Australia National University: Canberra, Australia, Oct 2011
Book Review
- Review of “George E. Dutton’s Voices of Southeast Asia: Essential Readings from Antiquity to the Present” in TRaNS: Trans-Regional and National Studies of Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press, July 2016
EDUCATION
- PhD in Comparative Literature, University of Warwick (2013)
- MSc in General and Comparative Literature (distinction), University of Edinburgh (2009)
- BA (Hon.) in English Language and Literature, SIM University (2007)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- World literature and literary translation
- Arabic and Malay literature and thought
- Literature and theology
- Utopia and dystopia
- Secularism and modernity
- Travel narratives
AWARDS
- National University of Singapore-Middle East Institute Research Fellowship (Postdoctoral), 2011-2016
- Muhammadiyah Ibnu Sina Award (for PhD studies), 2010-2011
- Islamic Religious Council of Singapore Postgraduate Scholarship (for PhD studies), 2009-2010
- British Chevening Scholarship (for Masters degree), 2008-2009